morning, and then we're going to warm up. >> thanks for watching. nbc nightly news is next, and local news at 6:00. on this sunday night, deadly bus crash. new details of what may have caused a church bus carrying dozens of teenagers to lose control and crash just a few miles from home. wedding party tragedy two weebs before her wedding a night out on a woet goes horribly wrong for a bride-to-be. tonight the driver in the hospital and under arrest. extreme weather, flash flooding in the south, record cold in the west. what's going on? safe at sea. new outrage over cruise ship safety standards. what you need to know before booking your next trip. and inside camelot. video of john f. kennedy and his young family 50 years ago this weekend.

from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nightly news" with lester holt. good evening. the more we learn about yesterday's fatal bus crash in indianapolis, the more heartbreaking it becomes. it was a story just developing when we came on the air last night. 3 people died and 26 others injured in a bus returning from a church youth camp went out of control and flipped on its side. it happened at the end of a long journey just minutes before the group was to return home. among the dead a young minister and his pregnant wife. while a community of faith grieves, investigators are trying to understand how it happened. nbc's john yang is in indianapolis for us tonight. john? >> reporter: good evening, lester. right now the colonial hill baptist church is holding its regular evening worship service. tonight it's taking on special meaning. hundreds of worshippers arrived at church this morning just blocks from the crash that

killed young pastor and his wife courtney. both in their mid-20s, courtney eight months pregnant. >> he set an example of his faith for us to all be encouraged by, thatod is good all the time. >> reporter: their 2-year-old son was on board and is being cared for by family. earlier saturday chad phelps tweeted, on the bus on the way home! pray for safety. also killed 51-year-old tonya wiandorf, the mother of five including a teenaged son with special needs. he was on the bus but not injured. >> all these folks on the bus were special to us as members here, as friends. our church grieves now. >> reporter: they were among 37 teens the and adults on the bus when it crashed near the end of a six-hour drive from a northern michigan church camp. police said the bus was coming off the exit ramp from interstate 465 when the driver

lost control, hit a barrier and flipped over. >> i stop and i see this bus in the air and people falling out of this bus, and i could have gone my whole life without seeing that. >> it was going very fast. i have no idea how fast. the bus flew into my vision right away and flipped just in an instant. >> reporter: people, their luggage and clothes, were thrown from the vehicle. >> people were literally trying to lift the bus. >> reporter: they recalled the march bus crack on the pennsylvania turnpike that killed a women's lacrosse coach and the bus driver. in saturday's accident, the 68-year-old driver, a church member, told police the brakes failed. the church owns the bus and said it was properly maintained and inspected. tonight 16 injured still in the hospital, one in critical condition, all are expected to survive. lester? >> john yang, thank you. in the hudson river just north of new york city officials have now recovered two bodies following this weekend's tragic

boat accident that is believed to have claimed the lives of a young bride-to-be and her fiance's best man. katy tur has our report. >> reporter: a mangled bow, this is what's left of a friday night boat trip that ended with the bride and best man believed dead. a groom and three others seriously injured. >> i can't talk about it right now. >> reporter: speaking to reporters saturday, the bride's parents hoped for a miracle. >> they just wanted a nice night on the river. >> reporter: but sunday police recovered two bodies believed to be lindsey stewart and mark lennon. >> we did speak to the families today and they were notified. we did console them. at this time we're waiting for positive identification from the medical examiner's office, but we're pretty confident that in fact this is mark lennon. >> reporter: 30-year-old stewart was set to marry her fiance brian bond in two weeks. best friends since childhood, family members say they fell in love four years ago.

bond and the three other friends were in the back of the boat when it crashed into the barge. disoriented and seriously injured, the groom-to-be managed to call 911. the reverend spoke to him in the hospital. >> hard to tell a mother and father that their daughter is not coming home. hard to tell a fiance that he's lost his bride-to-be. >> reporter: police say they have reason to believe the driver jojo john was intoxicated and have charged him with vehicular manslaughter and assault. authorities say the barges were lit up but local boaters called the conditions disorienting. >> the lights in the background really play tricks on your eyes. and while the bridge was lit up all the way around, the barge is just a black. >> reporter: the driver of the bo boat jojo john is still in critical condition. he was arraigned in his hospital bed. severe weather has residents of several states on alert tonight as people in north carolina remain without power after flash flooding wiped out

home and dozens of roads. the weather channel's kim cunningham has more for us. >> reporter: a deluge of rain caused major flooding and widespread power outages in north carolina this weekend. as much as 8 to 10 inches of rain fell in western parts of the state in 12 hours. officials declared a state of emergency and closed 50 to 60 roads in catawba county. at least six will stay closed for three months. the heavy rain was also blamed for the death of a 10-year-old girl and disappearance of a 48-year-old man who were swept away while swimming in a creek 100 miles north of charlotte. >> we're just trying to bring closure and help those folks be able to find their loved once. >> reporter: heavy rain and record winds of up to 89 miles an hour hit new mexico and southern parts of utah n the years i've lived here i've never seen that amount of water. >> just a week after that deadly heat wave, we now have temperatures much cooler than average. a ridge out west and a deep dip

in the jetstream in the east. this is allowing cold air from the north to spill out of canada and into the u.s. >> reporter: stanley, idaho, had a winter-like 34 degrees this morning. sioux city, iowa, had its coolest july morning since 1995 with a low of 44. and huron, south dakota, dipped to 41 degrees, the coldest july reading since 1972. hovering around the low 60s, it was warmer yesterday in alaska than it was in chicago, illinois. the good news for the folks running the big 10-k in chicago. >> we were actually pretty worried that it would be like last week n the 90s and that would have been way worse. this for runners is perfect temperatures. >> reporter: the strong cold front is making its way east, which could mean more flooding ahead we've seen flooding already in philadelphia. over 5 inches of rain in just three hours all because of this cold front and all the moisture coming northward. we're going to see thunderstorms tonight through tomorrow even into new england where we could see very heavy rain, a

possibility of flash flooding. once this exits, then we're going to start to focus our attention in the pacific. we're watching tropical storm flossie head towards the hawaiian islands. may make landfall monday morning local time. more on this on the weather channel. >> kim cunningham, thank you. in brazil today pope francis celebrated the final mass of world youth day drawing the largest crowds of the week-long event. anne thompson is traveling with the pope and has that story for us tonight. >> reporter: not many masses start like this. ♪ more than 3 million people doing a flash mob dance, but then not every sunday mass is celebrated by pope francis. during this world youth day event, the pope sought to bridge divides, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, and, most importantly, the church and its people. this group from wisconsin joining the parade of 180

nations on the beach. >> just really incredible to know that there's people from all these different nations who are doing the same thing as we are. >> reporter: throughout the week to connect with the massive crowds, the pope followed the advice of his namesake, st. francis of assisi. preach often and when necessary use words. he reached out to the people and was mobbed in return, creating headaches for security. the pope seemed to love every minute of it, donning the head dress of brazil's indigenous people. blessing and kissing children lifted to him. creating a personal bond that this woman from florida will remember all her life. >> not many people get to say that. i can say i was standing five feet away from the pope. >> reporter: thompson phillip is one of a dozen young pilgrims invited to lunch with pope francis. >> he just told us take care of the small things but with great

love. >> reporter: francis wants the church to go out to the people. he set the example here in brazil, embracing recovering addicts and walking through one of rio's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods. >> many priests and bishops are now aware of this new tone that francis seems to be inviting the church to, and they're making choices even in their daily lives, they're saying, well, almost, what would francis do? >> reporter: the challenge now is can the church take the excitement generated by francis and use it to stop the exodus of the faithful in brazil and the united states. anne thompson, nbc news, rio de janeiro. today israel's cabinet authorized the release of 104 prisoners. the peace talks are set to start in washington tomorrow. israel says the prisoners will be freed in groups during the negotiations. to the politics now of new york's mayoral race and the uproar over the candidacy of

anthony weiner. today we learn that weiner's campaign manager resigned, this as pressure mounts for him to drop out. kristen welker has the latest. >> reporter: another setback for the campaign of embattled new york mayoral candidate anthony weiner. this weekend his campaign manager resigned but would not comment to nbc news about his decision. mr. weiner did respond and emphasized he's not dropping out of the race. >> you know, we have an amazing staff, but this isn't about the people working on the campaign. this is about the people we're working for. >> reporter: weiner's poll numbers have plummeted ever since he admitted last week that he continued sexting a year after his resignation from congress for the same behavior. on friday a heated confrontation with a frustrated voter. >> if i conducted myself in the manner in which you conducted your, my job would be gone. >> reporter: today there was a chorus of voices calling for weiner to get out of the race.

>> it's absurd. he's not going to be the next mayor of new york. he's wasting time and space. >> i think his behavior has been quite clinically sick, and i think we will now find out in the democratic primary if indeed the voters are sick. >> there's a real pathological problem here with him. >> reporter: and weiner's record while serving here in congress has also become fodder for criticism. "new york times" columnist maureen dowd wrote today there's nothing in weiner's public life that is redeeming. in 12 years in congress he managed to get only one minor bill passed. on "meet the press" another candidate christine quinn tried to capitalize on her opponent's latest controversy. >> he's disqualified himself, but not just because of these scandals. he didn't have the qualifications when he was in congress. >> reporter: in the september primary, voters will have their say. kristen welker, nbc news, washington. tomorrow in boston, it's the defense's turn in the whitey

bulger trial to make its case after the prosecution rested on friday. the trial has so far been filled with graphic testimony with a witness list that reads like a movie script. here's nbc's michelle franzen. >> reporter: james "whitey" bulger is on trial for the mob-style killings of 19 people and extorting millions of dollars from victims during the '70s and '80s. the prosecution presented 63 witnesses in 30 days. victims, drug dealers and hit men who are serving time for murder and plea deals. >> the defense is going to argue there are serious credibility problems in the key prosecution witnesses that these are people who had an ax to grind. >> reporter: dramatic testimony from close associates like bulger's longtime partner, steven "the rifleman" fleming and john "the executioner" marta lato. this is the nephew of one of the murder victims and a witness who was never called to testify and was found dead in a tony city

suburb. davis suspects foul play. do you think he was murdered? >> me? of course. >> reporter: there were explosive moments. bulger's prot ojay kevin weeks called bulger a rat in front of the jury. kevin colin has been covering bulger for most of his career. >> the difference when you talk about whitey bulger where he fits in the pantheon of american crime is he managed to corrupt the fbi. >> reporter: it was bulger's fbi handler who tipped him off that he was about to be arrested in 1995 after 16 years and a nationwide manhunt, he was finally found living with his girlfriend in a santa monica apartment and brought back to boston. defense attorneys are expected to call more than a dozen witnesses and, if vindicated, bulger himself could also take the stand. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. there was a surprise appearance by a special guest in

her hometown last night. amanda berry, one of three women held captive for ten years, waved to the cheering crowd at the rover fest concert in cleveland. it was berry's first public appearance since escaping captivity and one day after her kidnapper ariel castro, was sentenced to life without parole plus 1,000 years. and this program note, ariel castro's son anthony will be interviewed on "today" tomorrow morning. when nbc "nightly news" continues on this sunday evening, the crackdown on the cruise ship industry. you may be surprised at what's really going on. a look back to the summer of '63 with president john f. kennedy.

to troubled waters of the

cruise ship industry where consumer confidence has dropped 12% in the last year, a year filled with fires, accidents and health threats finally forcing lawmakers to try to hold them better accountable. nbc's mark potter reports. >> reporter: since the crash of the "costa concordia" last year, cruise ship fire, health threats and power outages like the one aboard the carnival "triumph" have grabbed headlines worldwide. now the issue of crime against passengers is drawing the attention of senate commerce committee chairman john d. rockefeller. >> cruise lines are on notice that the safety and protection of passengers is now their number one priority. whether they like it or not. >> reporter: according to the committee report, the number of crimes alleged aboard cruise ships is 30 times more than those reported publicly. the report says since 2011 cruise lines have reported 959

ale alleged crimes to the fbi while the coast guard reported only 31 crimes publicly. miami maritime attorney jim walker says this leaves passengers extremely vulnerable. >> it lulls families into a false sense of security and complacency when really they that sbe on heightened awareness there are potential dangers. >> reporter: under a law passed three years ago the company must report cruise ship crimes on the website but only those solved by the pb. not those involving children or sexual assaults. >> close to 18% of the victims of sexual assaults on cruise ships are children. >> reporter: in his report the committee chairman points out when there's a crime on land you call 911 and the police come to investigate. when it's on a cruise ship you report it to a security officer who works for the cruise line which may have an interest in protecting itself. a cruise passenger protection act has been proposed requiring that all crimes alleged on cruise ships be made public. the cruise line industry says the rate of crime on cruise

ships is substantially lower than corresponding rates on land. and now the three biggest cruise lines are promising to post their crime data voluntarily starting next month. mark potter, nbc news, miami. when we come back, the golf here chose a baby over a birdie.

colonel george day was an air force pilot shot down during the vietnam war and brutalized by his captors in the infamous hanoi hilton where he was held with senator john mccain for five long years. colonel day earned the medal of honor and was one of the nation's most decorated servicemen. he died today in shalimar, florida. in a statement senator mccain called him the bravest man he's ever known. colonel day was 88 years old. so there was hunter ma han leading the open. he was untouchable. then he got the call.

his wife had gone into labor. mahan immediately withdrew from the tournament, good move, by the way, and flew home where early this morning candy mahan gave birth to a girl. five penguins waddled their way from graduation from fish school, that where human handlers helped socialize them. they headed over to penguin island which is the world's largest captive penguin colony. when we come back, summertime with jfk on cape cod.

on a week that saw the nomination of caroline kennedy to be america's next ambassador to japan and what would have been jackie kennedy's 84th birthday, a piece of rarely-viewed archival film takes us back to the kennedy compound in hyannisport more than 50 years ago. it was a family celebration on what no one new would be the last summer of president john f. kennedy's life. mike taibbi tonight. >> reporter: it's the kind of detailed, close-up look of a president at play that wouldn't be seen today. jfk golfing, his swing hampered by a chronically bad back, never a thing of beauty. and relaxing on the water, a motor yacht this time, in swim trunks and shades with jackie nearby, sometimes with a cigarette, and daughter caroline swimming and goofing around as children will and returning to her father's side.

>> in a way, one of the last weekends that a president could really relax without very much aforethought. none of that security, none of that enormous cordon between the press and the public. >> reporter: the scenes are from squaw island near the family compound in hyannisport in cape cod. at one point during the three-day weekend the president does some business, in a suit and tie, meeting with the british ambassador and his secretary of state dean rusk. it was july, kennedy had just returned from germany where he'd given his famous speech at the berlin wall. >> ich bin ein berliner. >> reporter: america's involvement in vietnam was escalating and the u.s., the uk and the soviet union had just signed a breakthrough nuclear test ban treaty. >> this was pretty close to being the zenith of his life and presidency. >> reporter: but there were these rarely scene images. the press invited for a close

look and literally within shouting distance of camelot, the kennedy family at play. caroline who was just named to be ambassador to japan, young john john greeting his father's helicopter who would later be lost in the crash of his plane in 1999. jackie who would be 84 today. and the 35th president less than four months from that terrible day in dallas, here with his family on a long summer weekend in the warmth of the sun and the water and with no hint of the storm to come. mike taibbi, nbc news, los angeles. and that's nbc "nightly news" for this sunday. brian williams will be here tomorrow. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. for all of us here at nbc news, good night. look at 'em.

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rethink possible. good evening, i'm diane dwyer. terry mcsweeney is off tonight. we are following a story about a shooting at home depot while they were open and full of shoppers. kimberly joins us with the latest. >> this is where it happened right behind me in the garden center here in hayward. it's a home depot that is very busy, especially on sundays. a spokesperson said they did not think customers were at risk and the store did remain open today as they